The Canadians and nine other second-round winners moved on, joining Jamaica and Haiti – the seventh- and eighth-seeded teams – to play six home-and-away series in the third round.
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The qualifying draw for the 2018 World Cup, which will be played in Russia, was hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
At the preliminary draw in St. Petersburg, Russia, the Americans were placed in Group C of the semifinal round with Trinidad and Tobago.
While England will be widely expected to top the group, Gordon Strachan’s men should be encouraged by the presence of two nations in Malta and Lithuania that have never reached a World Cup finals. The MNT cruised past Guatemala 4-0 in July when the teams faced off in a Gold Cup tune-up, and is unbeaten against the Central American team in twelve World Cup Qualifying matchups.
Slovenia also made that tournament, but were knocked out in the group stage.
Roy Hodgson’s side failed to make it out of their group during the last World Cup whilst the Scots have not qualified for the showpiece event since it was held in France in 1998. The Reggae Boyz upset the United States in the Gold Cup semifinals, 2-1.
England haven’t failed to qualify for a World Cup since they missed the 1994 tournament in the United States, although under Steve McClaren’s management they did fail to rach the 2008 European Championships.
There will be another draw for the final round of qualifying after the fourth round is over to determine the schedule and home and away dates. All that’s decided today in South America is order of matches.
England won the World Cup in 1966, but their well-documented attempts to add to that title since then have fallen well short. The USA has finished first in the Hexagonal during the past three Federation Internationale de Football Association World Cup cycles.
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That means when round four of qualifying opens up Canada will have to find an alternative venue to play their matches in, should they advance.
